Is it safe to delete files in "C:\Windows\WinSxS\Temp\PendingDeletes"?

[okuhlela6n]

I've been trying to free up space on my C: drive without formatting it, so I used WinDirStat to find large unnecessary files and discovered the "C:\Windows\WinSxS\Temp\PendingDeletes" folder. It's enormous (52 GB), filled with "$$Deleteme..." files, some of which are older than my computer. I usually have between 2 and 9 GB free on my C: drive, which prevents me from installing the latest updates. Whenever Windows starts an update, it fails and is withdrawn. I'm wondering if these files are essential for system backups and if it's safe to delete them.

 

[Grizzly]

I would not simply delete the content of this folder. You might want to run "Disk cleanup" from the Windows tools and clean your drive that way. Make sure you check the box "clean system files". then you may retrieve a lot of disk space again.

 

[The Shadow 2023]

That's strange, I don't even have that location on my PC.
But Generally, any TEMP folder is fair game to empty. I would do a Backup Image file, first, and then DELETE the contents of that folder.

Good Luck,
Shadow

 

[Grizzly]

I have that folder on my laptop but it is only about 150Mb in size. I just checked again. The folder is still there:
C:\Windows\WinSxS\Temp but it is empty. It seems that the last Update a couple of days ago has deleted everything in there.